Part 2 - Tales Of Ramana Maharshi Recounted By Chalam

In front of the temple dedicated to Bhagavan’s mother a magnificent hall was built and a gorgeous sofa carved from a single block of black granite was placed in the hall for Bhagavan to sit on. When all was ready he was requested to move from the old hall to the new one. Bhagavan refused.

A stone statue of him was being carved and he said, “The stone swami will sit on the stone sofa”. And it came true. Bhagavan used the stone sofa very little and only for the sake of the large gatherings which were brought by the news of his fatal
illness. When he was no more in the body, the statue was enthroned in the new hall and there it is now.

An old Telugu man with a long beard, an iron pot and chopper for cutting wood made his abode in the Draupadi temple. He would beg some food in the town, boil something or other in his iron pot on a small fire of wood cut with his chopper and eat it during the day. For hours together he could be seen standing and looking at Bhagavan.

He would spend the night in the temple, which was dilapidated and abandoned and surrounded by jungle.Once Chalam found him standing all alone in front of the temple and gazing at Arunachala. “I sleep here”, he said when Chalam asked him what he was doing in the forsaken temple. “What, sleeping here all alone? Are you not afraid”? exclaimed Chalam.

The old man seemed indignant. “Afraid of what? Bhagavan throws his light upon
me. All through the night I am surrounded by a blue radiance.As long as his light is with me, how can I be afraid”? The incident made Chalam deeply humble. Bhagavan’s love and light was given in full measure to a poor old beggar, while those who pride themselves on being his chosen disciples are left high and dry because they have themselves to attend to.

Source : RAMANA SMRTI Sri Ramana Maharshi Birth Centenary Offering 1980